Technology iNSIGHT Report - Hybrid Vehicles

Technology Insight Report
Hybrid Vehicles
A hybrid vehicle is a vehicle that uses two or more distinct power sources
to move the vehicle. The term most commonly refers to hybrid electric
vehicles (HEVs), which combine an internal combustion engine and one or
more electric motors.

The varieties of hybrid electric designs can be
differentiated by the structure of the hybrid vehicle drivetrain, the fuel
type, and the mode of operation.

This report takes a look into the patenting activity around hybrid vehicles
uncovering the key companies, inventors, and different sub categories.

Disclaimer: This report should not be construed as business advice and the insights are not to be used as the basis
for investment or business decisions of any kind without your own research and validation. Gridlogics Technologies
Pvt. Ltd disclaims all warranties whether express, implied or statutory, of reliability, accuracy or completeness of
results, with regards to the information contained in this report.
Page 1 of 34
© 2012 Gridlogics. All Rights Reserved.
Patent iNSIGHT Pro™ is a trademark of Gridlogics Technologies Pvt. Ltd.
Feedbacks and Comments on this report can be sent to feedback_tr@patentinsightpro.com

Introduction

A hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) is a type of hybrid vehicle and electric vehicle which combines a
conventional internal combustion engine (ICE) propulsion system with an electric propulsion system.
The presence of the electric powertrain is intended to achieve either better fuel economy than
a conventional vehicle, or better performance. There are a variety of HEV types, and the degree to
which they function as EVs varies as well. The most common form of HEV is the hybrid electric car,
although hybrid electric trucks (pickups and tractors) and buses also exist

Several automobile manufacturers announced that future vehicles will use aspects of hybrid electric
technology to reduce fuel consumption without the use of the hybrid drivetrain. Regenerative
braking can be used to recapture energy and stored to power electrical accessories, such as air
conditioning. Shutting down the engine at idle can also be used to reduce fuel consumption and
reduce emissions without the addition of a hybrid drivetrain. In both cases, some of the advantages
of hybrid electric technology are gained while additional cost and weight may be limited to the
addition of larger batteries and starter motors. There is no standard terminology for such vehicles,
although they may be termed mild hybrids.

Overview
With the help of Patent iNSIGHT Pro, we will analyze the patent data around hybrid vehicles to find
answers to the following:

 What does the IP publication trend for hybrid vehicles look like and how have the filings
evolved?
 Who are the top assignees or key players in hybrid vehicles and what are their technology
wise trends?
 How is research in hybrid vehicles spread across different countries?
 How is the Assignee portfolio spread across different battery types?
 How is assignee portfolio spread across various power transmission modes?

Page 2 of 34

Search Strategy
Using the commercial patent database PatBase as our data source we used the following search
query to create our patent set.

FT- Full Text
IC – International Class
UC- US Class

FT=((hybrid* or electric* or "hybrid electric") w/3 (vehicle* or car or cars)
or HEV or PHEV or drivetrain* or powertrain* or "power train" or "drive
train" or transmission*)

AND

((IC= B60K or B60L or B60M or B60W or H02J or H02P or H01M or H01H or
F02)

AND

(UC=903 or 180/65.1 or 123))

Class Descriptions of Classes used in Search Strategy

B60K: arrangement or mounting of propulsion units or of transmissions in vehicles; arrangement or mounting of
plural diverse prime-movers; auxiliary drives; instrumentation or dashboards for vehicles; arrangements in
connection with cooling, air intake, gas exhaust, or fuel supply, of propulsion units, in vehicles

B60L: propulsion of electrically-propelled vehicles

B60M: power supply lines, or devices along rails, for electrically-propelled vehicles

B60W: conjoint control of vehicle sub-units of different type or different function; control systems specially
adapted for hybrid vehicles; road vehicle drive control systems for purposes not related to the control of a particular
sub-unit

H02J: circuit arrangements or systems for supplying or distributing electric power; systems for storing electric
energy

H02P: control or regulation of electric motors, generators, or dynamo-electric converters; controlling transformers,
reactors or choke coils

H01M: processes or means, e.g. batteries, for the direct conversion of chemical energy into electrical energy

H01H: electric switches; relays; selectors; emergency protective devices

F02: combustion engines; hot-gas or combustion-product engine plants

UC 903: hybrid electric vehicles (HEVS)

180/65.1: electric

123: internal-combustion engines

Page 3 of 34

The query was directed to search through the full text and a patent set of 2956 records with one
publication per family was generated.

The publications included in the report are updated as of 19th June, 2012.

Page 4 of 34

Patent Categorization
To get deeper insights the patent set has been classified as follows:

By Power Transmission Modes

 Degree of Hybridization
a) Full Hybrid
b) Mild Hybrid
c) Plug-in Hybrid

 Dual-clutch Transmission
 Fuel Cells
 Parallel Hybrids
 Power-split Hybrids
 Series Hybrids

By Battery Types

 Lead Acid
 Lithium ion
 Lithium Ion Polymer
 Nickel- Metal Hybride
 Secondary Cells

By Brakes

 Brake Actuators
 Friction Brakes
 Regenerative Brakes
 Vacuum Servo
Image source:
http://www.zerotohundred.com/2008/auto-news/revealed-cheap-double-clutch-gearbox/
http://howdohybridcarswork.info/hybrid-car-batteries-2.html/
http://es.123rf.com/photo_6382572_ilustracion-3d-de-automovil-hibrido-con-poder-
enchufe-sobre-fondo-blanco.html

Page 5 of 34

The illustration below shows the different categories prepared and the number of records in
each. The categorization involved defining a search strategy for each topic and then conducting
the search using the Advanced Searching capability in Patent iNSIGHT Pro. Details of search
strings used for each category are given in Appendix B.

Categorization Tree

Page 6 of 34

Publication Trend
What has been the IP publication trend for hybrid vehicles?

Patents related to hybrid vehicles can be traced back to 1951 and the real surge in the activity
around this technology has happened in the last 5 years. Noticeably there was an increase in
applications since last decade.

It’s clear the current activity around these technologies is likely to continue seeing more
innovation in the near future.

How we did it?

Once the patents were populated in Patent iNSIGHT Pro, the publication trend chart was generated on a
single click using the dashboard tool.

Page 7 of 34

Assignees Trend
Who have been the top assignees or the key players within this industry?

The top assignees are:
1. TOYOTA GROUP 11. SUZUKI MOTOR CORP
2. HONDA MOTOR CO LTD 12. PORSCHE SE
3. GENERAL MOTORS CORP 13. MITSUBISHI GROUP
4. FORD MOTOR CO 14. CHYSLER GROUP LLC
5. NISSAN MOTOR CO LTD 15. PEUGEOT CITROEN SA
6. ROBERT BOSCH GMBH 16. EQUOS RESEARCH KK
7. ZF SACHS AG 17. NEW CARCO ACQUISITION LLC
8. HYUNDAI MOTOR CO 18. GENERAL ELECTRIC CO
9. HITACHI LTD 19. PANASONIC CORP
10. DAIMLER AG 20. LUK GMBH & CO

How we did it?

Once the patents were populated in Patent iNSIGHT Pro, the assignee cleanup tools were used to
normalize the names. Different cleanup tools were leveraged:
• To locate assignees for unassigned records
• To clean up records having multiple assignees
• To locate the correct assignee names for US records using the US assignments database
• To merge assignees that resulted from a merger or acquisition or name change.

Please refer Appendix A for more details on Assignee merging.
Once the Assignee names were cleaned up, the dashboard tool within Patent iNSIGHT Pro was used to
find the top 20 assignees within the given patent set. A visual graph was created based on the results of
the top assignees with the number of patents alongside each one.

The complete Assignee table in available in the following Excel file:
http://www.patentinsightpro.com/techreports/0712/List%20of%20Assignees.xls

Page 8 of 34

Assignee Trends
The below trend chart represents the assignee trend for patents assigned to the top assignees
identified within the patent set for hybrid vehicles shown with respect to time. The violet trend
line associated with Toyota Group shows an impressive spike from 2003 onwards. Hyundai
Motor Co has publications from 2001 onwards.

How we did it?

Using the Report Dashboard in Patent iNSIGHT Pro, the graph showing the cumulative filings of top 15
assignees with respect to time was created. The output was created in the form of a line graph to get a
visual insight which could display comparisons across the assignees.

Page 9 of 34

Top Countries
How is research in hybrid vehicles spread across different countries?

In terms of regional pockets where patent protection is being sought most frequently for these
technologies, JP leads the count, followed by the US and DE. The table below ranks top priority
countries and helps provide an indication of where innovation in this area is originating:

No. of
Averag
Filings in
e No. of
Total last 5 yrs vs Filing
Fwd Filing Trend
Priority No. of Average of Year Top 5 Assignees Top 5 Inventors
Cites (Absolute)
Country Records Top 20 Range
per
Priority
Patents
Country

TABATA ATSUSHI(80)
TOYOTA GROUP(700) WAKASHIRO
HONDA MOTOR CO TERUO(52)
1967- LTD(289) TAGA YUTAKA(48)
JP 1477 (50%) 5.75
2011 NISSAN MOTOR CO MATSUBARA
LTD(165) ATSUSHI(45)
HITACHI LTD(54) KITAJIMA
SUZUKI MOTOR SHINICHI(39)
CORP(39)

GENERAL MOTORS HEAP ANTHONY
CORP(225) H(41)
863 1922- FORD MOTOR CO(183) HOLMES ALAN G(26)
US (29.2%)
8.08
2012 CHRYSLER GROUP SCHMIDT MICHAEL
LLC(25) R(26)
NEW CARCO SAH JY JEN F(20)
ACQUISITION LLC(22) KUANG MING
GENERAL ELECTRIC LANG(17)
CO(19)

ZF SACHS AG(67) KALTENBACH
ROBERT BOSCH JOHANNES(20)
1962- GMBH(67) WALLNER
DE 324 (11%) 5.71
2012 PORSCHE SE(32) STEFAN(11)
DAIMLER AG(30) FALKENSTEIN JENS
LUK GMBH & CO(18) WERNER(11)
LUTZ DIETER(10)
BORNTRAEGER
KAI(10)

HYUNDAI MOTOR PARK JONGSOOL(7)
CO(65) CHOI YONG KAK(6)
1989- HALLA CLIMATE KIM YEONHO(5)
KR 74 (2.5%) 2.57
2011 CONTROL CORP(2) PARK JOON
JO KEUN WOO(1) YOUNG(4)
PARKER INTANGIBLES LEE CHANGWOOK(4)
LLC(1)
CHOI YONG KAK(1)

Page 10 of 34

PEUGEOT CITROEN ROCQ GAETAN(4)
SA(24) LE NEINDRE YVAN(3)
1971- RENAULT SAS(8) POGNANT GROS
FR 54 (1.8%) 4.89
2011 VALEO SA(5) PHILIPPE(3)
SMH MANAGEMENT LAEUFFER
SERVICES AG(3) JACQUES(3)
CONCEPTION ET APTER ROBERT(3)
DEVELOPPEMENT
MICHELIN S.A.(2)

BMW(3) LAMPERTH MICHAEL
GENERAL MOTORS ULRICH(2)
1918- CORP(3) BOURNE CARL(2)
GB 34 (1.2%) 12.29
2011 EVO ELECTRIC LTD(2) HAMPSHIRE
LUCAS INDUSTRIES MICHAEL J(1)
LTD(2) TURNER MICHAEL
JAGUAR CARS LTD(2) JAMES(1)
WILLIAMSON
JONATHAN H(1)

C R F SPA(5) PIAZZA ANDREA(4)
SWATCH GROUP PREGNOLATO
1997- MANAGEMENT GIANLUIGI(4)
EP 24 (0.8%) 3.46
2010 SERVICES AG THE(3) GARABELLO
TNO(3) MARCO(4)
SAAB AUTOMOBILE PASTORELLO
AB(2) VALTER(4)
SIEMENS AG(2) FOSTER DARREN
LEIGH(3)

VOLVO CAR CORP(13) STERVIK HANS(4)
CARNELIAN CORDLESS CARLHAMMAR
1977- LLC(2) LARS(2)
SE 20 (0.7%) 3.95
2008 STRIDSBERG ALM IVAR(2)
POWERTRAIN AB(2) SADARANGANI
FORD MOTOR CO(1) CHANDUR(2)
SAAB AUTOMOBILE STRIDSBERG
AB(1) LENNART(2)

FIAT SPA(3) BORDINI GIORGIO(4)
1992- FERRARI S P A(3) FAVARETTO
IT 17 (0.6%) 3.88
2010 C R F SPA(2) FABRIZIO(3)
CIARLA ALBERTO(1) CIMATTI FRANCO(2)
LENCI FABIO(1) ELLENA GIOVANNI(2)
MESITI DOMENICO(2)

BYD CO LTD(7) REN YI(3)
CONG YANG(2) LUO HONGBIN(2)
AI XIAOLAN(2) YANG SHENGLIN(2)
2001- SHENZHEN MINGHUA AI XIAOLIN(2)
CN 14 (0.5%) 1.07
2011 ENVIRONMENTAL AI XIAOZHI(2)
PROTECTION VEHICLE
CO. LTD.(1)
CHINA FIRST
AUTOMOBILE GROUP
CORP(1)

Page 11 of 34

INDIAN INSTITUTE OF CHACHRA
TECHNOLOGY DEEPAK(1)
BOMBAY(1) SETH BHARTENDU(1)
IN 3 (0.1%) 0.67
2005-
EMPIRE TECHNOLOGY AMUTHAM
2010
DEVELOPMENT LLC(1) VELAYUTHAM
KPIT CUMMINS KADAL(1)
INFOSYSTEMS LTD.(1) KSHATRIYA TEJAS
KRISHNA(1)

How we did it?

In order to compress all the information into a single report, we used the 360 ° series of reports available
in the software. From the Priority Country 360° report options, we selected the priority countries and the
different pieces of information we wanted to include in the singular display and then ran the report. The
generated report was then exported to Excel using the option provided for the same.

Page 12 of 34

Assignee - Key Statistics
Here we summarize key parameters of Top 15 Assignees such as filing trend, Avg. number of
Forward citations per record, Top inventors in each Assignee, Top Co-Assignees and Coverage of
underlying patent families

Coverage

Filing Year Range
Cites per Patents
Avg. No. of Fwd

(Includes families)

Co-Assignees
Key Inventor
Total No. of

Filing Trend
( Absolute )
Assignee

Records

(Top 5)

WO

CN

GB
DE
US

KR
EP

FR

IN
JP
TABATA
ATSUSHI(
80)
BROTHE
TAGA
R KOGYO
YUTAKA(
KK(1)
48)
FUJITSU
TOYOTA 702 1973- IBARAKI
6.72 TEN 697 284 254 671 388 27 291 1 97 8
GROUP (23.8%) 2011 RYUJI(34)
LTD(1)
MATSUB
TOSHIBA
ARA
CORP(1)
TOORU(2
8)
WAKUTA
SATORU(
26)

WAKASH
IRO
TERUO(5
2)
MATSUB
ARA
ATSUSHI(
HONDA 45) No Co-
291 1994-
MOTOR 7.56 KITAJIMA Assignee 291 135 39 280 168 2 79 2 32 15
(9.9%) 2011
CO LTD SHINICHI Present
(39)
KURODA
SHIGETA
KA(32)
IZUMIUR
A
ATSUSHI(
28)

Page 13 of 34

HEAP
ANTHON
Y H(41)
HOLMES
ALAN
GENERA
G(26) No Co-
L 229 1969-
7.18 SCHMIDT Assignee 229 59 5 16 148 0 151 5 4 83
MOTOR (7.8%) 2011
MICHAEL Present
S CORP
R(26)
SAH JY
JEN F(20)
TAMAI
GORO(14
)

KUANG
MING
LANG(17
)
SILVERI
ANDREW
J(16)
FORD No Co-
185 1968- SOLIMA
MOTOR 8.09 Assignee 185 26 6 53 102 1 54 62 2 2
(6.3%) 2011 N IHAB
CO Present
S(16)
KOTRE
STEPHEN
JOHN(10)
JANKOVI
C
MIROSLA
VA(9)

KITADA
SHINICHI
RO(12)
DEGUCHI
YOSHITA
KA(11)
NISSAN No Co-
164 1969- JOE
MOTOR 9.84 Assignee 164 105 19 160 63 0 63 1 33 0
(5.6%) 2011 SHINICHI
CO LTD Present
RO(11)
OSHIDAR
I
TOSHIKA
ZU(9)
KADOTA
KEIJI(9)

Page 14 of 34

FALKENS
TEIN
JENS
WERNER
(11)
LOEFFLE
R
JUERGEN
ROBERT No Co-
70 1974- (7)
BOSCH 3.66 Assignee 70 58 60 39 69 6 26 2 12 1
(2.4%) 2011 TUMBAC
GMBH Present
K
STEFAN(
6)
HOETZER
DIETER(5
)
SEEL
ANDREA
S(4)

KALTENB
ACH
JOHANN
ES(17)
BORNTR
AEGER
KAI(9)
ZF TENBRO No Co-
67 1995-
SACHS 4.96 CK Assignee 67 32 34 40 67 9 20 2 1 0
(2.3%) 2011
AG FRIEDRIC Present
H(8)
WALLNE
R
STEFAN(
8)
DREIBHO
LZ
RALF(8)

PARK
JONGSO
OL(7)
HYUND KIM KIA
AI 66 2000- YEONHO MOTORS
1.48 65 0 0 33 23 0 37 0 66 0
MOTOR (2.2%) 2011 (5) CORP(1)
CO CHOI
YONG
KAK(5)
YI
JAESHIN(
4)

Page 15 of 34

KIM
WAN
SOO(4)

MASAKI
RYOSO(9
)
MIYAZAK
I
TAIZO(9)
HANYU
No Co-
HITACHI 55 1992- TOMOYU
10.2 Assignee 55 38 6 54 23 0 14 0 12 0
LTD (1.9%) 2011 KI(8)
Present
YAMAM
OTO
TATSUYU
KI(7)
MINOW
A
TOSHIMI
CHI(7)

OGATA
MAKOTO
(9)
BOLL
WOLF(6)
NOREIKA
T KARL No Co-
DAIMLE 48 1983-
7.12 ERNST(5) Assignee 48 16 21 27 41 4 6 3 2 0
R AG (1.6%) 2011
YANASE Present
TAKASHI(
4)
EBNER
NORBER
T(3)

MORIMO
TO
KAZUHIK
O(22)
OMATA
SUZUKI YOSHIAKI No Co-
39 2000-
MOTOR 6.46 (21) Assignee 39 0 0 39 39 0 2 0 0 0
(1.3%) 2010
CORP MORI Present
TATSUJI(
8)
NODA
NORIHIR
O(8)
ITOH
YOSHIKI(

Page 16 of 34

7)

SAUVLET
NILS(9)
KRAXNER
DIETER(7
)
HENNIN
GS
No Co-
PORSCH 32 2007- STEPHAN
0.44 Assignee 32 1 1 16 32 11 18 0 11 2
E SE (1.1%) 2011 (6)
Present
FUECHT
NER
MARTIN(
6)
GOEHRIN
G
MARKUS
(5)

KAWAM
URA
NOBUYU
KI(4)
KOGA
HISAMIT
SU(4)
MITSUBI No Co-
27 1991- YOSHIDA
SHI 18.2 Assignee 27 10 4 26 13 3 6 1 11 0
(0.9%) 2011 MASATO
GROUP Present
(3)
FURUKA
WA
NOBUYA(
3)
KATO
MASAAKI
(3)

LAWRIE
ROBERT
E(6)
BUGLION
E
NEW
ARTHUR
CHRYSL CARCO
J(4)
ER 25 1946- ACQUISI
17.8 REED JR 25 2 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
GROUP (0.8%) 2010 TION
RICHARD
LLC LLC(22)
G(4)
COLELLO
GARY
M(4)
MOORE
THOMAS

Page 17 of 34

S(3)

ROCQ
GAETAN(
4)
LAEUFFE
PEUGEO R
T JACQUES
CITROE (3) No Co-
24 1978-
N 4.04 RIMAUX Assignee 24 23 22 18 14 24 16 0 1 0
(0.8%) 2010
AUTOM STEPHAN Present
OBILES E(3)
SA LE
NEINDRE
YVAN(3)
NOIRET
CHRISTIA
N(2)

How we did it?

From the Assignee 360° report options, we selected Top 15 Assignees and the different pieces of
information we wanted to include in the singular display and then ran the report. The generated report
was then exported to Excel using the option provided for the same.

Page 18 of 34

Inventor - Key Statistics
Here we summarize key parameters of Top 15 Inventors such as filing trend, average number of
forward citations per record, key associated companies and top 5 co-inventors.

Average
No. of
Total Filing
Fwd Filing Trend Key Assignees
Inventor No. of Year Co-Inventors
Cites ( Cumulative ) (Top 5)
Records Range
per
Patents

TAGA YUTAKA(34)
MATSUBARA TOORU(24)
TABATA 80 1996- TOYOTA GROUP(80) IBARAKI RYUJI(22)
10.14
ATSUSHI (2.7%) 2010 KUMAZAKI KENTA(15)
IWASE YUJI(13)

MATSUBARA ATSUSHI(29)
KITAJIMA SHINICHI(25)
HONDA MOTOR CO SAWAMURA
WAKASHIRO 52 1998-
7.71 LTD(52) KAZUTOMO(18)
TERUO (1.8%) 2007
TAKAHASHI HIDEYUKI(18)
NAKAMOTO YASUO(17)

TABATA ATSUSHI(34)
TOYOTA GROUP(48) IBARAKI RYUJI(23)
48 1995- BROTHER KOGYO HATA HIROSHI(13)
TAGA YUTAKA 20.17
(1.6%) 2008 KK(1) MIKAMI TSUYOSHI(12)
KUBO SEITOKU(6)

WAKASHIRO TERUO(29)
HONDA MOTOR CO
MATSUBARA 45 1999- KURODA SHIGETAKA(19)
7.09 LTD(45)
ATSUSHI (1.5%) 2004 IZUMIURA ATSUSHI(18)
NAKAMOTO YASUO(18)

SAH JY JEN F(10)
HSIEH TUNG MING(8)
GENERAL MOTORS
HEAP 41 2004- KAMINSKY LAWRENCE A(7)
2.61 CORP(41)
ANTHONY H (1.4%) 2009 KIM KEE YONG(6)
BRUNSSEN WILFRIED(4)

WAKASHIRO TERUO(25)
HONDA MOTOR CO IZUMIURA ATSUSHI(19)
KITAJIMA 39 1999-
7.41 LTD(39) KURODA SHIGETAKA(17)
SHINICHI (1.3%) 2005
SAWAMURA
KAZUTOMO(17)

Page 19 of 34

TAGA YUTAKA(23)
TABATA ATSUSHI(22)
34 1995- TOYOTA GROUP(34) HATA HIROSHI(16)
IBARAKI RYUJI 25.32
(1.2%) 2009 MIKAMI TSUYOSHI(12)
KUBO SEITOKU(5)

HONDA MOTOR CO
WAKASHIRO TERUO(16)
KURODA 33 1999- LTD(32)
10.94 IZUMIURA ATSUSHI(14)
SHIGETAKA (1.1%) 2004 BNP PARIBAS AS(1)
SAWAMURA
KAZUTOMO(13)

MIYAISHI YOSHINORI(7)
EQUOS RESEARCH
MOROTO SHUZO(5)
KK(17)
YAMAGUCHI 1993- HISADA HIDEKI(4)
30 (1%) 25.9 TOYOTA GROUP(12)
KOZO 2004 TAKENAKA MASAYUKI(4)
LUMEND INC.(1)
TUZUKI SHIGEO(4)

HONDA MOTOR CO
IZUMIURA 28 1999- KURODA SHIGETAKA(14)
10.43 LTD(28)
ATSUSHI (0.9%) 2002 WAKASHIRO TERUO(13)
OKI HIDEYUKI(11)

TABATA ATSUSHI(24)
KUMAZAKI KENTA(15)
MATSUBARA 28 2001- TOYOTA GROUP(28) SHIBATA HIROYUKI(12)
1.75
TOORU (0.9%) 2010 IWASE YUJI(7)
KAIFUKU MASAKAZU(5)

SCHMIDT MICHAEL R(8)
KLEMEN DONALD(6)
GENERAL MOTORS
HOLMES ALAN 26 2001- CONLON BRENDAN M(4)
8.08 CORP(26)
G (0.9%) 2010 NITZ LARRY T(4)
HEAP ANTHONY H(3)

KLEMEN DONALD(12)
HOLMES ALAN G(8)
GENERAL MOTORS
SCHMIDT 26 1995- HEAP ANTHONY H(3)
26.88 CORP(26)
MICHAEL R (0.9%) 2007 NITZ LARRY T(3)
HUBBARD GREGORY A(2)

OMOTE KENJI(10)
ADACHI MASATOSHI(8)
WAKUTA 26 1999- TOYOTA GROUP(26) SUZUKI TAKEHIKO(8)
8.42
SATORU (0.9%) 2008 INUZUKA TAKESHI(6)
MIURA KIYOTOMO(6)

Page 20 of 34

WAKASHIRO TERUO(18)
HONDA MOTOR CO
SAWAMURA 25 1998- MATSUBARA ATSUSHI(16)
11.92 LTD(25)
KAZUTOMO (0.8%) 2002 KURODA SHIGETAKA(13)
IZUMIURA ATSUSHI(11)

How we did it?

From the Inventor 360° report options, we selected the different pieces of information we wanted to
include in the singular display and then ran the report. The generated report was then exported to Excel
using the option provided for the same.

Page 21 of 34

Analysis of key inventor groups of key assignees
The generated map below highlights the key inventor groups of key assignees. The records (blue
dots) are positioned on the map based on their relationship to the Assignee and to the inventors
listed on the graph. The numbers besides the nodes represent citation count for respective
inventors.

Key inventors present in the map, for instance, Lutz Dieter for ZF Sachs AG has total 12 citations.
Also groups of inventors who file together appear clustered together.

How we did it?

Using the VizMAP tool, patents of key assignees were loaded. These were then expanded by their
respective inventor names. The VizShade option was used to shade the inventors with potential
overlapping patents between them and citation count from the current data set is displayed.

Page 22 of 34

Battery Types vs Assignees
How is the Assignee portfolio spread across different battery types?

General Motors Corp is active across Lithium Ion Polymer batteries. Toyota Group leads with 14
records followed by General Motors Corp and Ford Motor Co in Lead Acid batteries

How we did it?

First the various battery types used in hybrid vehicles were identified by manual research. Then by using a
combination of semantic analysis tools such as clustering tools and searching tools available in Patent
iNSIGHT Pro, patents were categorized under different battery types. A co‐occurrence matrix was
generated and the resulting matrix was converted into a bubble chart.

Page 23 of 34

Key Companies vs Power Transmission Mode

How is assignee portfolio spread across various power transmission modes?

Ford Motor Co has presence across the ‘power transmission modes’ portfolio leading with 45
records on power-split hybrids. Porsche SE is involved in Dual-Clutch Transmission.

Power Degree Of Hybridization

Power-Split Hybrids
Transmission

Parallel Hybrids
Modes

Series Hybrids
Plug-in Hybrid
Hybridization

Transmission
(Rows)

Mild Hybrid

Dual-Clutch
Total
Full Hybrid
Degree Of

Fuel Cells
Key
Assignees
(Columns)
Total 353 159 52 15 11 68 27 73 45 56
FORD
105 70 25 5 3 14 1 45 7 9
MOTOR CO
GENERAL
MOTORS 60 25 16 5 12 5 12 7 8
CORP
TOYOTA
55 22 4 7 12 3 13 6
GROUP
HYUNDAI
21 16 1 1 1 3
MOTOR CO
ZF SACHS AG 19 2 1 2 12 1 6
NISSAN
MOTOR CO 17 5 1 4 4 4 1
LTD
PORSCHE SE 13 5 3 2 3 2 7
HONDA
MOTOR CO 13 2 1 1 2 5 5
LTD
ROBERT
BOSCH 11 3 3 1 2 1 5
GMBH
HITACHI LTD 8 2 1 1 2 1 3

DAIMLER AG 8 1 2 2 2 2
VOLVO CAR
6 4 1 3 4 1
CORP
LUK GMBH
6 6
& CO
JATCO LTD 6 6

Page 24 of 34

PEUGEOT
5 2 2 1 2 1
CITROEN SA

The below chart represents the graphical interpretation of the above matrix

How we did it?

The clusters that were created for the analysis were correlated using the co‐occurrence analyzer and then
the resulting matrix was exported to Excel and a 3-D bar chart was generated.

Page 25 of 34

Brakes vs Assignees

How is the Assignee portfolio spread across different Brake types?

As compared to other assignees General Motors had more no of published records in friction
brakes from 2007-2009.

How we did it?

The clusters that were created for the previous analysis were correlated using the co‐occurrence analyzer
and the resulting matrix was converted into a 4-D Matrix containing assignees, types of brakes,
publication year and results were restricted to last decade.

Page 26 of 34

Inter-category Relationship between battery types and power
transmission modes

How are records correlated across different types of batteries and power transmission modes?

In the map, each battery type is connected through links whose thickness and color intensity is
directly proportional to the number of records relating them. The number (in red) next to each
line represents the number of records present in a particular battery type and power
transmission mode.
It can be seen that secondary cells are more used in fuel cells. Also, Series Hybrids use Lead acid
type of batteries.

Note: The darker nodes represent the battery types, whereas remaining nodes refer to
the power transmission nodes.

How we did it?

The clusters that were created for the previous analysis were correlated using the co‐occurrence analyzer
and then the resulting matrix was represented as Correlation Map.

Page 27 of 34

Sample Portfolio Comparison of key assignees
How does the portfolio landscape of key assignees compare with other? What are the overlaps in
the portfolios?

The map shows patents of key assignees clustered together based on the basis of brake
technology. The map also shows the overlapping areas and patents in respective categories.

How we did it?

The VizMAP tool in Patent iNSIGHT Pro was used for this analysis. First the patents of key assignees were
loaded on the map. The map was then analyzed in the context mode wherein each patent record is placed
across to the contextual similarity with other records. The contextual similarity was calculated over Title,
Abstract and Claims.

Page 28 of 34

Appendix A: Key Assignee Normalization Table
Note: The tables below include normalization from US Assignments database and so some assignees may
appear under multiple normalized names.

TOYOTA GROUP HONDA MOTOR CO LTD

AISIN SEIKI CO LTD MATSUOKA TOSHIYUKI
YAMAMOTO KOICHI
DENSO CORP
ASAKA SATORU
TOYODA CHUO KENKYUSHO KK HASEGAWA OSAMU
TOYOTA MOTOR CO LTD IKEO MITSURU
AISIN AL CO LTD MATSUMOTO KENJI
MASUDA ATSUSHI HONDA GIKEN KOYGO KABUSHIKI KA
OBATA ATSUOMI MATSUOKA TOSHIYUKI
YAMAGUCHI KOICHI YAMAMOTO KOICHI
NISHIUCHI SHIGETO ASAKA SATORU
NONAKA YOUICHI HASEGAWA OSAMU
IKEO MITSURU
MATSUMOTO KENJI

FORD MOTOR CO GENERAL MOTORS CORP

FORD GLOBAL TECH INC
GM GLOBAL TECH OPERATIONS INC
KUANG MING LANG
GM GLOBAL TECHNOLOGY OPERATIONS LLC
MCCARTHY JAMES PAUL
PATIL PRABHAKAR B SATURN CORP
HEAP ANTHONY H
HOLMES ALAN G
NITZ LARRY T
SCHMIDT MICHAEL R
ALDRICH WILLIAM LEONARD
HOANG TONY T
RISSE PATRICK L
TAMAI GORO

Page 29 of 34

Appendix B: Search Strings Used for Categorization
Categorization: Power Transmission Modes

1. Degree of Hybridization

a. Full Hybrid

Full Hybrid
(FT) contains (((full or strong) w/3 hybrid*) or 71 results
"negative split*" or "power boost*")

b. Mild Hybrid

Mild Hybrid
(FT) contains ("mild hybrid*" or "static start*") 26 results

c. Plug-in Hybrid

Plug-in Hybrid
(TAC) contains ("Plug* hybrid*" or PHEV or 27 results
"gas-option*" or gas option* or "grid*
hybrid*")

2. Dual- clutch Transmission

Dual- clutch Transmission
(FT) contains ("dual-clutch" or "dual clutch" or 83 results
DCT or ((twin* or double*) w/2 clutch*))

3. Fuel Cells

Fuel Cells
(TAC) contains (fuel* cell* or electric* hybrid*) 113 results

4. Parallel Hybrids

Parallel Hybrids
(TAC) contains ((parallel* w/2 hybrid*) or PHV 106 results
or PH or "parallel mild*")

5. Power-split Hybrids

Power-split Hybrids
(FT) contains ((("power*split" or 106 results
"series*parallel") w/4 hybrid*) or SPHVS or
powersplit* or "power-split")

Page 30 of 34

6. Series Hybrids

Series Hybrids
(TAC) contains (((series* or serial*) w/2 61 results
hybrid*) or SHV or SH)

Categorization: Battery Types

1. Lead Acid

Lead Acid
(FT) contains ((lead* acid*) or (lead-acid*)) 74 results

2. Lithium Ion

Lithium Ion
(FT) contains ((("lithium-ion" or "lithium ion" or 176 results
"Li-ion") w/2 (batter* or cell*)) or LIB)

3. Lithium ion Polymer

Lithium ion Polymer
(FT) contains (lithium* polymer* or Li-poly or 26 results
Li-Pol or LiPo or LIP or PLI or LiP)

4. Nickel- Metal Hybride

Nickel- Metal Hybride
(FT) contains (((nick* metal*) w/2 (hydride* or 111 results
hybrid*)) or Ni-MH or NiMH)

5. Secondary Cells

Secondary Cells
(TAC) contains (((rechargeable or secondary or 302 results
storage) w/2 (battery or batteries or cell or
cells)) or accumulator)

Categorization: Brakes

1. Brake Actuators

Brake Actuators
(TAC) contains (brak* w/3 actuat*) 44 results

Page 31 of 34

2. Friction Brakes

Friction Brakes
(FT) contains (friction w/3 brak*) 191 results

3. Regenerative Brakes

Regenerative Brakes
(TAC) contains ((regenerat*or dynamic or 213 results
renew*) w/2 brak*)

4. Vacuum Servo

Vacuum Servo
(FT) contains (((vacuum* or vaccum*) w/3 73 results
servo*) or (brak* w/2 boost*) or ((electro-
mechanical* or electromechanical*) w/2
(boost* or brak*)))

Page 32 of 34

Summary
Current HEVs reduce petroleum consumption under certain conditions, compared to otherwise
similar conventional vehicles by using three mechanisms:

1. Reducing wasted energy during idle/low output by turning the ICE off.
2. Regenerative braking which is recapturing waste energy.
3. Reducing the size and power of the ICE.

Any combination of these three primary hybrid advantages may be used in different vehicles to
realize different fuel usage, power, emissions, and weight and cost profiles. The ICE in an HEV
can be smaller, lighter, and more efficient than the one in a conventional vehicle, because the
combustion engine can be sized for slightly above average power demand rather
than peak power demand. The drive system in a vehicle is required to operate over a range of
speed and power, but an ICE's highest efficiency is in a narrow range of operation, making
conventional vehicles inefficient. On the contrary, in most HEV designs, the ICE operates closer
to its range of highest efficiency more frequently. The greater fuel economy of HEVs has
implication for reduced petroleum consumption and vehicle air pollution emissions worldwide.

This report talks about the existing & emerging trends in the different technological
advancements in hybrid vehicle domain.

About Patent iNSIGHT Pro

Patent iNSIGHT Pro™ is a comprehensive patent analysis platform that allows you to accelerate
your time-to-decision from patent analysis activities. Designed from inputs by experienced
patent researchers, Patent iNSIGHT Pro easily blends into your existing Research workflow.
Patent iNSIGHT Pro is used by leading legal services, Pharmaceutical & biotech, electronics
companies and research organization across US, Europe, South America and India with more
than 400 end users. Patent iNSIGHT Pro is developed and marketed by Gridlogics , a research
driven IT Company specializing in providing intellectual property analysis and visualization
solutions to aid R&D and corporate strategy.

Gridlogics is headquartered in Pune, India and has a sales presence in Delhi, Mumbai and USA.
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Page 33 of 34

Sources & References
1. http://www.howstuffworks.com/hybrid-car.htm
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hybrid_electric_vehiclez
3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hybrid_vehicle_drivetrain#Types_by_degree_of_hybri
dization

Page 34 of 34

Technology iNSIGHT Report - Hybrid Vehicles

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